The WordsJean-Paul Sartre was arguably the best-known and most influential French writer of his time. As a philosopher, as a novelist, as a playwright, as the author of filmscripts, as the editor of Les Temps Modernes, as a man who was never afraid to commit himself to the moral and political as well as the literary life of his own times, he was unique. Not since Voltaire has Western civilization produced so humane, manifold, and boldly "engaged" a man of letters. At 59, he undertook his autobiography, bringing to his own childhood the same rigor of honesty and insight which he had applied so brilliantly in earlier books to Baudelaire and Jean Genet. "Directed to the heart as well as to the intellect," the result is like nothing else in the Sartre canon, or in France, where The Words has been accorded a place beside that other masterpiece of self-analysis, Rousseau's Confessions.--Adapted from publisher description. |
From inside the book
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Page 24
... Everything was a pretext for him to suspend his gestures , to strike an attitude , to turn to stone . He doted upon those brief mo- ments of eternity in which he became his own statue . Given his taste for tableaux vivants , I have ...
... Everything was a pretext for him to suspend his gestures , to strike an attitude , to turn to stone . He doted upon those brief mo- ments of eternity in which he became his own statue . Given his taste for tableaux vivants , I have ...
Page 32
... everything . I have only to push a door to have — I too - the feeling of appearing on the scene . I place my blocks on top of each other , I turn out my mudpies , I yell . Someone comes and exclaims . I've made one more person happy ...
... everything . I have only to push a door to have — I too - the feeling of appearing on the scene . I place my blocks on top of each other , I turn out my mudpies , I yell . Someone comes and exclaims . I've made one more person happy ...
Page 239
... everything goes by the board . I've crossed out my early years in particular : when I began this book , it took me a long time to decipher them beneath the blots . When I was thirty , friends were sur- prised : " One would think you ...
... everything goes by the board . I've crossed out my early years in particular : when I began this book , it took me a long time to decipher them beneath the blots . When I was thirty , friends were sur- prised : " One would think you ...
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Common terms and phrases
adults Alsace Alsatian Anne Marie Arcachon arms Arnould Galopin asked Aurillac became Bénard beneath bored born bourgeois Buffalo Bill Charles Schweitzer child child prodigy childhood daugh dead death dreams eau de Cologne everything eyes Fantômas father feel felt Fingal's Cave friends future gave gaze German gift girl give given glory grandfather grandfather's grandmother grown-ups Guérigny Gunsbach hand happy head heart hero Holy Ghost Hugo Karl Karlémami knew later laugh live look lost Louise lycée Mâcon Madame Bovary Meudon Michael Strogoff mother never notebook novels Pardaillan passion Pfaffenhofen play pleasure realize remained role short Simonnot smile someone soul spoke stopped story suddenly talk tears thing Thiviers thought tion took truth turned Victor Hugo virtue voice waiting wanted words write young